Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Americas at 6,962 m (22,841 ft). It is located in the Andes mountain range, in the Argentine province of Mendoza. The summit is located about 3 miles from San Juan Province,  9 miles from the international border with Chile and about 50 miles northeast of the Chilean capital of Santiago. It lies 70 miles west by north of the city of Mendoza. Aconcagua is the highest peak in both the Western and Southern Hemispheres.

Getting to Base Camp

This adventure will have them traveling for days by air and ground. Ground transportation includes bus, riding in the back of a pick-up, and mules. Yes, I said mules. They will be hiring a mule service to transport their gear up the Vacas Valley from Punta de Vacas  (hyperlink to weather there) to Plaza Argentina Base Camp. While some climbers choose to ride the mules in, the Narrs will be trekking along on foot as part of their altitude acclimation. The trek with the mules includes a few river crossings as you can see on the approach map below (click on the image to open it larger in another window). Their daily stops have been circled in yellow and the days indicated correspond to those listed on The Plan.

Consider supporting another of Aaron's climbs

From Plaza Argentina they will go to Camp 1, Camp 2, and then cross the mountain via the Falso del los Polacos route (translates to False Polish), to meet up with the Normal Route at approximately 20,670 ft (6300 m). They will then follow the Normal Route to summit (hyperlink to summit weather). They chose this route so they weren't on the crowded Normal Route the entire time or the more technical Polish Direct route. In their research they found that many who intended to summit via the Polish Direct, which is a bit more technical and requires particularly favorable weather conditions, end up summiting via their planned route.